Air Con Timer - Page 3

All good advice provided. I have had numerous guests have a similar problem and the only solution that has appeared to be the most efficient is :

Assume the guests will run the AC 24/7

Assume the guests will run the AC even with the doors and windows open, in a hope they will cool Spain and reverse global warming in the process!

Calculate (finger in the air or from the bill) the cost to run the AC. The preferred method is for a trusted key holder to provide before and after meter readings per guest visit

Add it as a sundry item to the booking fee (like a security deposit)

When your next bill comes in, if it is lower than expected, return the relevant, proportional amount to the guest.

All the other suggestions are very valid and I even installed some of the smarter solutions for a customer, whereby windows and doors opened or no movement detection would disable the AC. All these items have install costs attached and require support in the event of a problem.

I think it is very fair and reasonable to be descriptive to any rental prospect what the conditions of rental are and associated costs.

Hope it helps

The remotes that Davebev speaks of obviously provide a saving because they have proved it but they do not stop the renters from going out and leaving the ac units running, hence Davebev is thinking of adding the turn off sensors to their system, the initial outlay for both remote and sensor from ecosense, when I looked at this method a couple of years ago, was quite hefty and it would have taken a good while to recover those costs.

The link provided above has 2 types of sensor, a basic one which is the one we are speaking about here and an advanced one for £10 more, this unit adds in the capability of restricting the settings, they are currently £49.99, less if your buy more, when I last looked at ecosense to buy the on/off monitor and the remote would have cost twice as much, ecosense have been around for a number of years now but the alternatives we are speaking of are around 3 years on the market so maybe a little advancement in technology and production costs.

I am not disrespecting Davebev's opinion here as they obviously know what they are doing to be able to provide the excellent guides to tourist rental, I am just providing an alternative argument to this very helpful thread, this is what the forum is about imo.

Excellent advice and the idea of charging for electricity used sounds like a good solution, but I am pretty sure that somewhere in my application for a tourist license it said I was not allowed to charge for electricity. 

Yes, you are correct, utilities (electricity, water, gas) have to be included in the rental for all holiday lets.  Any additional payments required have to be detailed in advance on the contract before it is signed and before the rental is paid.  Examples of additional payments that are allowed is an end of stay fixed fee for cleaning and laundry, out of hours arrival for meet and greet, or rental of additional equipment such as a cot or highchair, but these need to be fixed fees and notified and agreed in advance.

i was thinking of attaching some sensors but was told it might not be good for the system, also problamatic if you want to use it in the night when you are still and sensors cant notice you

I am sure there must be a solution to stop the mindless use of AC 

Ecosense do a sensor that works at night in bedrooms, so doesn't shut the unit off if people are sleeping but does if the room is left empty.  They do not attached to the air con unit, they are remote and switch it off using the same program as the air cons own unit's remote control, they do not cut the electricity, they switch it off.

Hi can you tell me where I can buy these push button timers please?

Hi we used to rent a town house before we purchased our home in the sun ,, but it had a pay meter fitted to the aircon unit I would look into one of those,, it wasn’t bad to run at all to be fair and will definitely make people think about how the use it !!! 

Hope this help